Global Voices Online

Says (Fr) France-based Senegalese blogger Seckasysteme about the allegedly affirmative-action induced hiring and debut of Black French newsanchor Harry Roselmack on French national television: “Roselmack's (…) professional competence and the recognition he has earned from his peers is so obvious that even the detractors of affirmative action are starting to admit the need to favor the blooming of all the hidden and underexploited talents that exist among French minorities so shamefully relegated to our ghettos.”

Lessons drawn by Le Pangolin from the recent acquisition by Indian-owned steel company Mittal Steel of European-owned Arcelor (Fr): ” Economic actors of developing countries can really change the world if they are so inclined. (…) The West is not invincible.”

Jean-Claude Halley from Guadeloupe Attitude posts (Fr) an invitation to an upcoming convention on the issues of French overseas departments and territories (a.k.a. DOM/TOMs) organized by controversial French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and his UMP party. The invitation enumerates issues faced by the DOMs including unemployment, discrimination, social tensions, inadequate housing, discrepancies with continental France and Sarkozy's pet issue, immigration.

Says Senegalese blogger Seckasysteme (Fr): “African football is not up to par and its presence in the World Cup is mostly symbolic. Too bad that the numerous individual African talents could not orchestrate a comeback. (…) Why couldn't such talented African football players achieve the same performance in their national teams as they did in their respective clubs?”

Generation Consciente, Une Autre Afrique writes: (Fr)“A book by Cameroonian Jacques Bonjawo, Internet, a Chance for Africa [L'Internet, Une Chance Pour l'Afrique in French] talks about the benefits of new information and communication technologies for Africa. However, the Internet promotes extraversion even if it is a way to make local cultures known. It glamourizes migration by forcing comparisons of standards of living, of educational, employment opportunities and of access to networks. “

LSZ Blog, a health-related blog covering Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean, writes (Fr): “It seems that Chikungunya fever has reached a quasi-pandemic dimension with more than a million people infected during the past 24 months in a large geographic area encompassing the East-African equatorial coasts, the Indian Ocean islands and half of the Indian peninsula.“

Mocking Africa, a French Monopoly-like game, Kangni Alem repeats the game's description [”Your goal is to explore, to conquer and to develop [the] new colonies. You will be able to betray alliances to exploit the lands of your adversaries, the goal being to own the most land at the end of the game”] and comments (Fr): “The game could not be easier (…) Enjoy!”

Reflecting on Senegal's drowned migrant crisis and migrations towards the West in general, Robert Sagna, the Mayor of Ziguinchor, Senegal blogs (Fr): “Developed countries (…) build quasi-impenetrable walls through “visas”. Visas (…) are not the right solution. (…) The youth from the South has chosen emigration. It is our responsibility to make sure that is not the only choice. Then let's make sure that migrations are not “chosen” but “organized” through a North-South dialogue. (…) Repression can never be a good durable solution, it makes things worse.”

“No Sarkozy! Immigration does not come from a vacuum,” says (Fr) Semett in a post on French interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy's immigration policies. “With centuries of merciless exploitation of subsaharan countries and a continuous transfer of their riches to the North, it is logical that the disinherited masses from Africa turn to Europe to recapture their goods (…) The colonization of Europe is imminent.”